New Hair, yo

Following in the (well-worn) tracks of Alice Dellal, Ke$ha, Cassie, Jada Pinkett, Laurieann Gibson, Rihanna (cringe), and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (superb movie) I lopped off the hair on the right side of my head. I started with scissors (snip, snip) then buzzed the rest down on setting no.1.

I like it! Plus I haven't seen my scalp in about a hundred years.

Also, I'm pleased to report that it wasn't this huge, devastating, life-changing thing - chopping off twelve years worth of dreadlocks. No uncontrollable sobbing, no fits of remorse. Time for a change clearly. So now begins the challenge of making this asymmetrical hair thing palatable to the masses. And my mother.

The Traffic Jam (covered in the paper)

Finally came across a copy of the paper 2 days later! Big up @WambuiKibue @AnnabelOnyango @MaiavonLekow @BigPin (Taken withinstagram)

Thanks Miss Kihoro!

Inspired!

This image (posted here in XL format, *shrug*) is like adrenaline for me, straight to the veins. Everything about this look is total inspiration. It's organic, ultra-feminine, floaty, and incorporates some of the trends we look for now - lacy sheers, bold ethnic jewellery, floral statements, artsy nail treatments, and best of all, candid and unaffected beauty. From my daily favourite, LOOKBOOK.nu.

Behind-the-scenes at the Arboretum: Mochez Goes Green

Fatu makes up Dorothy Oliech of Mochez Models

More of what all this is about to follow in the next couple of weeks, I just can't help sharing sometimes...

Yay, we're in ArtLife!

Pick up your copy from Art Café now.

#TheTrafficJam

What I wore

Kazuri Beads: A Day Out

I go to the Kazuri bead factory about once a year, usually with visiting friends interested to see the cottage industries in the city and how they work. Kazuri Beads is a fairtrade initiative that enlists disadvantaged single mothers in the production of beads and pottery - not a new concept, but I think a good one. It's such a charming little place tucked away in Karen, with such nice ladies on the 'assembly line'. And who doesn't love a big pile of painted beads?

Beads are hand-moulded out of ceramic dough, one at a time

On the 'factory' floor

Assorted pottery ready for the oven

Sun-dried beads

Bead abacus

Stringing beads together to create jewelery

Decades-worth of bead storage, from as far back as the '70s

Bead paint

Elaborate beaded mural

Surrounded by finished product - beads & pottery of all colours & shapes

My Kazuri mug that I use every second of every day (that's a guinea fowl in case you can't tell)